The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) on Wednesday sent 20 young Nigerian entrepreneurs to the United States for a one-month entrepreneurship training.

A statement from SMEDAN signed by the Assistant Director, Corporate Affairs, Mr Levi Anyikwa said that SMEDAN conducted a screening in August for 1,000 participants.

It said out of the participants, 20 young entrepreneurs were successful and would be trained at the Barry University, Miami, Florida. It said SMEDAN, the Africa Diaspora Partnership for Economic Development (ADPED), the US Department of States and Barry University jointly organised a pre-departure orientation for the 20 young Nigerians.It said the training, under the “Nigerian Youth Entrepreneurship Programme”, was part of the outcome of the Business Plan Competition Boot-camp, organised recently where they were selected.

The statement quoted the Director-General of SMEDAN, Alhaji Muhammad Nadada Umar, at the pre-departure orientation programme as counseling them to adhere strictly to the purpose of their trip and conduct themselves as ambassadors of Nigeria.

It quoted Umar as urging them to be change agents, purposeful and patriotic Nigerians and help in reversing the negative image of Nigeria by projecting themselves as honest and proud ambassadors.

We want 100 per cent score card by the time you are through with the programme. Be honest and conduct yourselves very well when you get there and try to learn well and come out with excellent results as you were all selected purely on merit,” the statement quoted him as saying.

The representative of the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Embassy in Nigeria, Mr Edward Flynn, extolled the resilient and dogged spirit of the 20-man contingent for making it out of the many who applied. He explained that the U.S. government had bank-rolled the programme through the Education Bureau of the Domestic Affairs Office of the U.S. Embassy Grant given to Barry University.